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NASA-Funded Research Discovers Life Built With Toxic Chemical 12.02.10

NASA-funded astrobiology research has changed the fundamental knowledge

about what comprises all known life on Earth.

Researchers conducting tests in the harsh environment of Mono Lake in

California have discovered the first known microorganism on Earth able to
thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic. The microorganism
substitutes arsenic for phosphorus in its cell components.

"The definition of life has just expanded," said Ed Weiler, NASA's associate
administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the agency's
Headquarters in Washington. "As we pursue our efforts to seek signs of life in
Image of Mono Lake Research area
the solar system, we have to think more broadly, more diversely and consider
Click photo for larger image.
life as we do not know it."

This finding of an alternative biochemistry makeup will alter biology textbooks

and expand the scope of the search for life beyond Earth. The research is
published in this week's edition of Science Express.

Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur are the six basic
building blocks of all known forms of life on Earth. Phosphorus is part of the
chemical backbone of DNA and RNA, the structures that carry genetic
instructions for life, and is considered an essential element for all living cells.

Phosphorus is a central component of the energy-carrying molecule in all Felisa Wolfe-Simon processing mud from
cells (adenosine triphosphate) and also the phospholipids that form all cell Mono Lake to inoculate media to grow
membranes. Arsenic, which is chemically similar to phosphorus, is poisonous microbes on arsenic.
for most life on Earth. Arsenic disrupts metabolic pathways because Image Credit: Henry Bortman
chemically it behaves similarly to phosphate. Click photo for larger image.

"We know that some microbes can breathe arsenic, but what we've found is a
microbe doing something new -- building parts of itself out of arsenic," said
Felisa Wolfe-Simon, a NASA Astrobiology Research Fellow in residence at
the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., and the research team's
lead scientist. "If something here on Earth can do something so unexpected,
what else can life do that we haven't seen yet?"

The newly discovered microbe, strain GFAJ-1, is a member of a common

group of bacteria, the Gammaproteobacteria. In the laboratory, the
researchers successfully grew microbes from the lake on a diet that was very Image of GFAJ-1 grown on arsenic.
lean on phosphorus, but included generous helpings of arsenic. When Image Credit: Jodi Switzer Blum
researchers removed the phosphorus and replaced it with arsenic the Click photo for larger image.
microbes continued to grow. Subsequent analyses indicated that the arsenic
was being used to produce the building blocks of new GFAJ-1 cells.

The key issue the researchers investigated was when the microbe was grown on arsenic did the arsenic actually became

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/astrobiology_toxic_chemical_prt.htm 25-04-2011
Página NASA - NASA-Funded Research Discovers Life Built With Toxic Chemicale 2 de 3

incorporated into the organisms' vital biochemical machinery, such as DNA,

proteins and the cell membranes. A variety of sophisticated laboratory
techniques was used to determine where the arsenic was incorporated.

The team chose to explore Mono Lake because of its unusual chemistry,
especially its high salinity, high alkalinity, and high levels of arsenic. This
chemistry is in part a result of Mono Lake's isolation from its sources of fresh
water for 50 years.

The results of this study will inform ongoing research in many areas, including
the study of Earth's evolution, organic chemistry, biogeochemical cycles,
Image of GFAJ-1 grown on phosphorus.
disease mitigation and Earth system research. These findings also will open
Image Credit: Jodi Switzer Blum
up new frontiers in microbiology and other areas of research.
Click photo for larger image.

"The idea of alternative biochemistries for life is common in science fiction,"

said Carl Pilcher, director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute at the agency's
Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "Until now a life form using arsenic as a building block was only theoretical,
but now we know such life exists in Mono Lake."

The research team included scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Penn., and the Stanford Synchroton
Radiation Lightsource in Menlo Park, Calif.

NASA's Astrobiology Program in Washington contributed funding for the research through its Exobiology and Evolutionary
Biology program and the NASA Astrobiology Institute. NASA's Astrobiology Program supports research into the origin,
evolution, distribution, and future of life on Earth.

For more information about the finding and a complete list of researchers, visit:

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown
NASA Headquarters

Cathy Weselby
NASA Ames Research Center

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Find this article at:

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/astrobiology_toxic_chemical.html

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/astrobiology_toxic_chemical_prt.htm 25-04-2011